The sale of lottery tickets through self-serve lottery machines is an expanding, billion dollar, worldwide industry. These lottery sales are made through the use of ticket dispensing machines rather than through over-the-counter transactions. A person making a lottery purchase from such a machine selects a type of instant win ticket or a number to be played in a random number drawing, and makes payment for the ticket at the machine. Many forms of payment may be accepted by the machine. Most lottery transactions, however, involve providing the lottery machine with cash prior to the dispensing of a ticket.
When a new instant lottery game is introduced, or when the jackpot of a random number drawing is high, people tend to play the lottery more, that is, tend to spend more money on the lottery. Especially during such high volume sales periods, self-serve lottery machines may contain several thousand dollars in cash. Because these machines are often unattended while in use, the amount of cash inside the machines provides a great temptation to thieves. Thieves also know that in addition to the cash, a potential winning ticket may be found inside the machines, providing further incentive to break in.
Because of this threat of break in and loss of a great deal of cash and lottery tickets, lottery machines must be secured. The machines themselves must be made of a tough material, and all joints must be constructed so that they are tamper resistant. For example, the walls of the machine can be made of a heavy gauge steel, and the joints should be welded or riveted. Further, the openings in the machine from which cash is retrieved by the operator and through which lottery tickets are loaded must be locked by a mechanism that is difficult to compromise.
Single bolt locks are usually good enough to deter an unmotivated thief. However, the amount of money present in a lottery machine usually attracts a more determined criminal. Such a person would have little trouble prying open or jimmying a lock having a single point of resistance. Locks exist which have more than one resistance points. However, these are used in bank vault applications. As a result, the lock mechanisms are extremely large, heavy, and complicated. They are designed to be used in extremely large doors and require much effort to turn even by someone who has legitimately unlocked the lock. In some cases, an electronic means may be necessary to turn the lock bolts once the combination has been entered.
Thus, such a multi-point lock is not suited for use with a lottery ticket dispensing machine. A vault locking mechanism is too large, heavy, and complicated to be used with a relatively lightweight lottery dispensing machine, which may range in size from a small countertop model to a machine approximately the size of a soft drink dispensing machine. It would not be cost effective to build a lottery machine that is as large and sturdy as a bank vault so that a vault locking mechanism can be used. Therefore, a small and lightweight yet nevertheless sturdy and secure multi-point locking mechanism would be more suitable for use with a lottery ticket dispensing machine.